Wild Child, Chapter 1, parts 1,2
by Hart of Darkness
Summary: A new generation of Charmed ones is about to face what their mothers and aunts so desperatelly tried to protect them from...
1. Chapter 1

**Wild Child**

_A Charmed-spinoff_

by Hart of Darkness

Chapter 1

Part 1

**She** glanced in the mirror and sighed. Maybe bangs had been a stupid idea? The chocolate brown hair flowed freely down her back and the thick bangs covered her forehead. She leaned in, scrunching her face up, looking for new wrinkles. At an age of 45, Phoebe Halliwell didn't look one day over 35, and she loved it. Nobody ever imagined she had a 17 year old daughter, unless the daughter in question showed up and ruined the image of Phoebe as the perfect, young woman…

Okay, maybe it was all thanks to some magical equivalent of Botox, too, but Phoebe wasn't going to pretend she didn't consider herself a hot mama.

When the door opened, Phoebe more sensed it then heard it. Ava…

- Avalon? - Phoebe shouted through the house, but never got any reply. She sighed and stood up, leaving the make up table in her bedroom and walked out into the hallway. The plus carped muffled the sound of her steps, as it had done for Ava just seconds ago.

Phoebe often wished her own daughter had been more of an unruly teen, the usual kind that slammed doors, left clothes and belongings everywhere and talked back loudly and obnoxiously. Instead, Avalon had been a calm, almost chilly young woman for as long as Phoebe could remember. Off course, when Ava was born, Phoebe's TV career was boosting, and Ava had been brought up by nannies. Her powers had been bound by the three sisters immediately after her birth, so that Ava would never experience the magic nor the curse that being a witch meant.

Phoebe stopped by the door at the end off the hallway, putting her ear to the cold, hard surface, withholding her breath, listening. Not a sound.

- What are you doing?- she suddenly heard from behind, and as she spun around, she found herself face to face with a 17 year old version of herself. Avalon looked so much like Phoebe had done 27 years ago it sometimes hurt to look at her.

- I was just…- Phoebe started out, then she gave herself a brush-up within and shot Ava a short, cold stare.- We are eating at 7pm, sharp. Dress for the occasion.

As she walked past her daughter, she could feel the hostility. She had been so young when her own mother, Patty, had passed away, she had vowed her own daughter would never lack anything, especially not the love only a mother could cradle her child with. Instead, there was nothing between mother and daughter Halliwell then a cold war of stares and things unsaid.

- I'm not staying for dinner.- Ava replied, walking into her room. Phoebe closed her eyes, turned and walked in, following her daughter.

- What is that supposed to mean?- she asked, sounding harsh. More harsh then she had intended. Ava glanced up as she was switching her green tank top for a black sweat shirt and pulled her hair up in a pony tail, pressing a ballcap firmly over her head.

- I have better things to do.- she replied, trying to walk past her mother. Phoebe grabbed Ava by the elbow, yanking her back.

- You are not going anywhere. You have been out of control for the past few weeks and it's about time we talk about this, little lady!- she hissed straight out. Ava looked her mother into the eyes and laughed shortly, melodically.

- "Little lady"?- she mocked Phoebe coldly.- Would that make you "Big lady" or something? Big, maybe… but hardly a lady!

Phoebe lost her nerve and slapped Ava across the face. The girl fell, to the floor, looking back at her mother with a shocked expression as she grabbed her burning cheek. The moment she had hit her daughter, Phoebe felt guilty, kneeling down next to her.

- I'm sorry, Ava… I'm sorry… I didn't meant to…- she tried to ask for her daughter's forgiveness, but there were such hatred in Ava's eyes, Phoebe just stood up and backed away, turning and fleeing into her own room as soon as she could. How in the world did this happen? Where had it all gone wrong? She had a beautiful baby girl, she had a great job, she had everything… family, friends, career, a New York penthouse… somewhere down the road, Ava had turned from a happy child into a cold and distant young woman, a woman Phoebe couldn't reach at all.

How much she hated to admit it to herself, there was only one thing left to do.

Phoebe exhaled, pushed her long hair back and picked the phone up. After dialing a number out of memory, she waited for the signals to pass. When somebody picked up across the line, memories of years passed overflowed her, but she suppressed them, pressed a smile across her lips and inhaled.

- Hi, it's me… Phoebe…

**The** sun was slowly emerging from behind the mountains of the mainland, kissing the water of the Bay and slowly dressing beautiful San Francisco in a sunny veil. The yellow taxi cab was travelling uptown, from the airport and towards Prescott Court, stopping silently by the dark pink house in the middle of the street.

- We're here…- the cabbie announced, glancing back, over his shoulder, at his young passenger. Ava leaned forward, towards the side window of the car and eyed the house roof to basement.

- It's pink…- she mumbled disgusted.

The cabbie looked up towards the house too.

- It's more mauve… or budding elderberry…-he replied. Ava cut her eyes to him. He was in his mid-30's, looking handsome, fit and with eyelashes so long, most women would kill for them. And he knew colors like mauve and elderberry… As he turned and smiled at her, she realized he was damn hot.- Welcome to San Francisco!

Yes, welcome to San Francisco in deed.

As she attempted to pay for the ride from the airport, he stopped her.

- Your mother's production company has already taken care of it all.- he announced, getting out of the car, unloading her luggage. Two bags, one bigger, one smaller. That fit her entire life to them. Ava was standing at the curb, watching the house, as the cabbie walked up to her, placing her bags next to her, on the sidewalk.- Are you going to be okay now?

Ava gave him a short sideways glance and a crooked smile appeared in the corner of her lips.

- Okay is not the word that comes to mind…- she sighed, but as the cabbie gave her a confused stare, she waved it off.- I'll be just fine. What other choice do I have?

He smiled, pointing at the cab.

- Well, my services are only one call away…- he acknowledged, leaving Ava all alone on the curb outside of the pink, or mauve, or elderberry colored house.

She was short, about her mother's height, as far as they could remember her, and looked a lot like the photos of Phoebe from her childhood that they had seen, hidden in various albums throughout the house.

- Why is she just standing there?- Chris asked. He was younger, his unruly brown hair kept falling into his eyes and his eyes were always looking for something new to ponder over, analyze to bits and leave broken.

Wyatt smiled. His curly dark blonde hair, making him look just like his father, was falling around his long, handsome face, framing it, giving him an angelic aura. They were like night and day, coming from the same mother and father, but what set them apart was also what had created such a strong bond between the brothers.

- She's watching us.- Wyatt replied, not taking his eyes off the dark hared woman at the curb, who was at this very moment glancing down the street, away from the house.

- What do you mean, she's looking the other direction!- Chris pointed out. He was impatient, and he hated to believe in what he couldn't see nor touch.

- Trust me.- Wyatt replied, and at that very moment, Ava turned around and shot a cold stare towards the attic window. The curtain danced as the two brothers quickly stepped away, but she had already made them.

- Ava?

Ava looked down, from the attic window and to the front steps. There, in the doorway, with her long brown hair pulled back into a loose pony tail, a sweater and a pair of black slacks, stood her aunt Piper, watching her curiously. Ava tried on a smile. She hadn't seen her aunt Piper, actually neither one of her aunts, since she had been five years old, and her mother relocated to NY City permanentelly. NY had always had a natural drawn on Phoebe, but it had never done the same for Ava. She had made it her home, but it didn't mean she loved it. Just like her family situation, Ava felt she was caught between two worlds, not fitting into either one of them.

- Let me help you with the bags…- Piper suggested as she started walking down the stairs. Ava smiled, glanced at the bags and then vanished, in a blink of an eye. Piper stopped, as her feet had grown into the soil somewhere between the front porch of the house and the curb, and looked terrified at Ava. Then she hurried up to her, leaning in.- What are you doing? Do you have any idea how careful you have to be about that stuff?

Ava looked calmly up at her aunt, looking her straight into the eyes.

- Nobody was watching. I couldn't sense them…- she replied slowly as she started to walk up towards the house.

- Sense them?- Piper asked, feeling thrown off basis for a moment.- You couldn't sense them? That means absolutely nothing!

- Actually, it means quite a lot.- Ava disagreed.- It means there was nobody there. Nobody but those two…

She stopped right outside of the house and pointed at the attic window. Piper looked up, but she couldn't see anything.

- Inside!- she told Ava seriously, pointing at the open door. Ava glanced at her, shrugged once and walked into the house that once had harbored the Charmed Ones. The magical Threesome. The three sisters that had been the epicenter of good in the world.

There had been a lot of water under the bridge since they together fought for the good of the world… too much time had passed. They had created lives of their own, with husbands and children, and careers… and it had been years since a demon or warlock had attacked any one of them. Little did they know, that by breaking the power of three, they had bound the goodness and evil of the world for a century long standstill. And now, the standstill was over…

**She **had showered and redressed and was allowed to explore the room that once had belonged to her mother, but now would belong to her. Seven more months, and she would turn 18, and then nobody could tell her to do anything, but until then, she stuck living with aunt Piper and her two sons in San Francisco, cast away by her TV hotshot mother and expelled from her east coast home…

Ava picked up an old perfume bottle and sniffed it. What once must have been a nice perfume now only smelled stale, like alcohol and dust. She put it away with a sigh and turned, glancing out the window. San Francisco spread out before her beyond the calm street where her aunt's house laid.

Suddenly, she felt him. Slightly turning her head, catching a glimpse of the closed door at the corner of her eye, Ava smiled.

- You can come in, you know…- she acknowledged. The door opened slowly, and a messy, blonde head was stuck in through the opening. Ava was facing the window, but she didn't have to see him to know him.- Hello, Wyatt…

Wyatt slowly entered the room, closing the door behind him.

- Hi… so… you're cousin Ava…- he said. Ava smiled, looking at the perfectly mowed lawn before the house and nodded before she turned, letting him take her all in.

- Guilty.- she admit to shortly, shrugging once.- And you are Wyatt Matthew Halliwell… the promised one…

Wyatt looked confused at her for a moment, then he laughed shortly.

- It's been ages since anybody mentioned magic in this house.- he replied. Ava nodded.

- Yes, I know. Last time was in 1990, when I was born and the three witched of San Francisco bound my powers.- she replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed, watching him curiously.- Don't you ever miss having active powers?

Wyatt shrugged, taking a glance over the room. He hadn't been in here since aunt Phoebe moved out… Twelve years ago, to be more exact. He nor Chris had been allowed to enter. Now, Ava was here, and it would be her room for at least the nearest future.

- I was so young when mum bound my powers, I can hardly remember it.- he replied. He had been nine, so he very well remembered, but what was he supposed to say.

- Perfect son.- Ava replied, sizing him up.- You mow the lawn, you have your football scholar ship, to a University nearby, because you can't leave your mum all alone, can you? I bet you have never done one bad thing in your life…

Wyatt glanced at Ava and an amused smile lingered over his lips.

- Have you?- he asked.

Ava held his stare for a few seconds, then she smiled, looking away.

- Unclear. Ask again later.- she declared, pretending he had just shook a magic 8-ball and not asked her an up front question.

- That's why you are here, isn't it?- Wyatt persisted. Ava looked straight at him, but it was like she was seeing right through him.

- I'm here because my mother and I are too alike to be under the same roof.- she admit to slowly, like it was paining her to say that. Then she smiled, shaking her head, trying to shake the realization off her and looked at Wyatt again.- Do you know you have a green aura?

Wyatt smiled back.

- Is that good?- he asked. He didn't know exactly whom her father had been, but he knew this much: his cousin had inherited her father's ability to see good and evil in people by one quick glance at them.

- It's a healers aura…- she replied slowly.- Healthy.

- Good?- Wyatt asked again. Something inside of him turned with nervosity. It had been stories he's been told, but there were dark forces out there that, in another reality, had lured him over.

- You tell me.- Ava replied slowly. She could sense him tightening up, uneasy at her not wanting to reply. She knew it pained him that he could ever be anything but a joy to his parents, and it became all very clear to her, why he tried so hard to be the best son he could ever be. He was trying to make up for what he could have become…

- Kids? Lunch!- the voice of Piper cut through the house, announcing time had passed since the yellow taxi cab holding Ava had rolled up the street bright and early this morning. Six hours down, about a million left to go…

Ava sighed, stood up and headed for the door. Then she stopped, hessitated, and glanced at Wyatt.

- Don't worry. It's all good.- she replied, giving him a confident smile. Wyatt smiled back, feeling lighter at heart. But as he was letting her walk down the stairs ahead of him, Ava sensed the dark dots in him, budding, slowly growing…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Part 2

**The **moment she entered the dining room, she felt his hostility towards her. His dark, green eyes were peering interested at her from under his thick bangs, and she got the feeling he was trying to pick her apart so he would have smaller bits to analyze… without being able to stop herself, she pulled her arms around her own body.

Wyatt walked in right after Ava, placing his hand on her lower back, he pushed her further into the dining room before he walked around her, taking his place at the side of the table, across from Chris. The table was set with five plates, and the only vacant seats were either at the short end of the table or right by Chris.

Ava looked up, glanced at aunt Piper, sitting down on the other short end of the table, then she glanced over the photographs over the cupboard to her left. Uncle Leo… she barely ever heard his name, and she sure as hell didn't remember him. She just knew that the blonde man smiling at her from the photos on the wall was her uncle.

As on a cue, the front door opened, and he walked in. Ava shrugged. She sensed his presence stronger then she ever had sensed anyone before. She didn't have to turn to see his being was completely spotless.

- Hi, sorry for being late…- he announced with a smile as he walked over to Piper and pressed a kiss on her cheek. He messed up Chris' hair as he was passing and stopped at the other short end of the table, anticipatingly looking at Ava.- My, my, you've grown…

Ava felt something strangely familiar about Leo's presence. Like she knew him from somewhere. But as she rose her head and looked him straight into the eyes, she was certain they had never actually met before. There was a tinkle in his eyes telling her he knew she was wondering….

- Shall we seat?- Leo suggested, pointing Ava to the chair next to Chris. Ava glanced at Chris. He was staring straight into his plate, unwilling to meet her eyes. She swallowed and walked around the table, taking a seat next to him, across the table from Wyatt. She found it hard to read Chris, it was almost like he knew she could sense him and tried to block her… right then and there, she decided he was going to become her own, personal project. And she would become his favorite person in the entire world, even if it meant somebody would have to die…

**As **ever day, this one too passed slowly. It was a Saturday, both Chris and Wyatt were home from their colleges, Leo and Piper didn't have to work, and Ava was… starting to feel a bit more comfortable in her own skin. She had spent the entire day on exploring her new surroundings, and found them more comforting they she had ever expected. Being surrounded by things that had belonged to her family in centuries had a different effect on her. For the first time in a very long time, Avalon felt safe…

Sitting on the attic, in the middle of the round, worn out carpet that covered the wooden boards of the floor at the center of the room, she was slowly letting her eyes climb up and down the walls, examining everything up there without actually touching it. Some things glimmered brightly, others had a dusty aura to them… she giggled, as she spotted a large crate stuffed in under a 250-year old ottoman. Without a word, she rose and walked over to the ottoman. She didn't have to, she could just wish for the crate to slide over to her – one of the powers her mother couldn't have bound, because Ava acquired it in a rather unspeakable way during her early teens.

Sitting on the ottoman, she pulled away the old blanket that hung over the front of the ottoman, almost covering the dusty edge of the crate. She pulled her fingers over the polished wood, knocking one french manicured tip against the frame. Then she sighed, made a swift move with her hand and the crate slid gently out before her. She put her hands together, fingertips resting against her full lips. A small smile appeared on her face. She opened her mouth and blew a long, slow puff of air towards the crate. The lock fell off and the crate opened, revealing an old, leather-bound book inside. The triqueta on the front was separated.

Ava dropped to her knees before the crate, stilling holding her hands together. Making it comfortable for herself, she opened her hands up, like a book, and the book inside the crate opened up, pages flipping through, until it stopped somewhere in the middle. Ava leaned in, squinting against the spare light coming in through the covered windows.

- "_Every generation has their own_"…- she read out from the page. Then she leaned back, looking puzzled.-Their own what?

The question hadn't been meant for anyone in particular, because she had been all alone at the attic, but it got an answer nonetheless.

- What are you doing here?

Ava glanced up, startled. Chris was standing in the doorway, watching her with a displeased frown. Why hadn't she sensed him?

- I'm… reading?- she suggested, surprised she felt as comfortable as she did in what was a brand new situation for her. Usually, she took one look at a person, and knew if they were good or bad or any of the shades there in between. She could tell if somebody was going to commit a crime and often when they would do it by how much darkness she sensed in them. She knew somebody was going to call her or show up outside of her door before they even thought of it…. Ava had a great power, a power she had gotten from her father, a man she never knew – and that power was having a glitch in the machinery right now… Ava couldn't sense Chris for anything in the world. It was the very first time her senses had a malfunction, but strangely, she didn't care…

- That book is off limits!- Chris growled at her, taking one step towards entering the attic, but stopped himself, hesitating, like he was afraid something bad would happen. He backed half a step, remaining at a safe distance from the door.

Ava's eyes narrowed.

- Why don't you come in?- she suggested, watching him. Chris looked frustrated, like he wanted to, but couldn't. Or was too afraid to. An idea ignited somewhere in Ava. She smiled, a small, barely visible crooked smile. He hadn't said one single word to her all through the lunch, nor for the rest of the day. Piper and Leo had been asking about school, and about her mother, and Wyatt had made his mission to make her stay as friendly as possible… and Chris… had been hiding out.

- This…- she said, picking the large book out of the crate and placing it on her lap.- …seems to me like a very interesting read…

Chris swallowed. His jaws tensed. He hated having her on the other side of the door, holding onto the Book of Shadows… she was trespassing, and it wasn't even on his territory… twelve years ago, when aunt Phoebe was moving out of the manors, the attic as locked up, completely. Nobody knew, or nobody wanted to say what had really happened – if it had been Piper, Phoebe and Paige to lock out the magic within by locking it up in the attic – or if Phoebe moving away had caused the power of three to separate… all Chris knew that back in the days, when he and Wyatt had still been kids, he had once tried to break into the attic. He remembered the Book of Shadows, he remembered the magic, he remembered it all – and he wanted to, just, have a taste of what was rightfully his…

The doorknob had burned his hand, and the door had shook so vigorously he had been terrified it would have woken up the entire household. The bright lights shining out through the cracks in where the door met the door jamb had blinded him, and he had stumbled back, falling down the stairs. He had collected himself off the floor, and the very next day, as he could barely put a shirt on himself, and his mum had taken him to the doctors, he had refused to reveal how his arm had been broken during the night,

Nobody knew, nobody but Chris, what the attic had done to him when he tried to enter it. Yet, there she was, sitting by the old ottoman, holding onto the Book of Shadows.

- You were up here early this morning, when you watched me get out of the cab…- Ava pointed out, tilting her head, trying to get a read off Chris. He was still blocking her inner vision. She couldn't cope with that. She desperately wanted to get a read off him, to know which labeled box to put him into. Good. Bad. Weirdo…

- No, I wasn't.- Chris replied, shaking his head, watching her stunned.- I was in my room… we both were… me and Wyatt….

Ava looked at him and got the feeling he was telling the truth. Slowly, she stood up, still holding onto the book, now closed, pressed firmly against her chest.

- Then whom was up here, watching me? I saw the curtain dance as somebody hid…- she pointed out slowly. Chris shook his head.

- You were mistaking. Nobody has been up here for ages. The door had been locked, and, besides, how did _you_ get in here?- he asked, suddenly realizing that she should have been a quivering mess at the bottom of the attic stairs.

Ava shrugged.

- I walked up the stairs and the door was open… so I entered.- she explained, not understanding his interest in her getting into the room.

- The door was open?- Chris asked, unable to grasp the concept. He felt like she had told him that the sky was pink, the grass was blue and he himself had a pig's nose in the middle of his face. Unable to understand why, he rose his hand and poked his nose. Nope, still his own nose, sitting where it always had, in the middle of his face.

- The door was open. Am I talking Cantonese her, or something?-. Ava hissed, loosing her nerve. She tucked some hair behind her ear and placed the book on the reading pulpit that was standing right in front of the ottoman. She sighed again, flipping through the pages, but they were as if someone had glued them together. The only page she could open up the book on was the one with the quote, in old, burgundy, faded letters: " Every generation has their own".

- Hey, listen, do you have any idea what this means?- she asked, not looking up from the book. When Chris didn't answer, she glanced up, spotting him still in the doorway.- Oh, Christ, just get your butt in here! What are you waiting for?

Chris looked up, facing her, then slowly took one step into the room. Slowly, he put his right foot on the wooden planks on the floor of the attic. They creaked him a warning, like old wood might, but nothing else happened. His left foot slowly followed, carrying the rest of him into the attic. Once he was standing on the right side of the door, he exhaled. Nothing broken. He was in the attic rather then at the bottom of the stairs leading up to it.

More confident now, he walked up to Ava and the book and looked at the open pages.

- Every generation has their own…- he read out slowly. Pushing her aside, he tried to flip through the pages of the book, but he couldn't. They didn't separate. Suddenly somebody slammed the book shut, so loudly and suddenly, both Ava and Chris jumped back. Before them, standing right behind the book, was Wyatt, and he didn't look happy at all.

- What the hell are you two doing?- he scold at them.- We are not supposed to be up here!

Chris glanced at Ava, and found tit strange her staring back at him gave him more confidence. He faced his brother and grimaced.

- Relax, we're just looking.- he promised, flipping the book back open.- You're the oldest one, tell me, does this tell you something?

Wyatt glanced down the book automatically.

- Every generation has their own.- he read out, without any intonation, then he shrugged.- So?

He put his hand in under the leather-bound cover and flipped the book closed. While his fingers rested against the top of the broken triqueta, Chris and Ava's attempts to open the book again placed their fingers at the tops of the other two pieces…

**She** was just finishing up the dished from the lunch when she felt it. She was uneasy, like a cold hand had slowly caressed her back, and shivered, trying to shake the feeling off her. Leo glanced up at his wife, by the sink, and put the newpaper he was reading onto the table.

- Are you all right?- he asked, looking concerned at her. Piper nodded, staring blindly into the foaming sink. If he could see her face, he would see she was pale as a sheet.

He rose, slowly walking towards her, but the trembling that shook the house in the very foundations stopped him halfway through the kitchen. Piper turned, supporting her back on the sink, terrified looking up at the shaking walls and ceiling.

- What's happening?- she shouted fearfully. Leo hurried up to her, hugging her.

- Nothing honey…- he promised as he stroke her over the head, but he didn't manage to sound convincing enough to soothe her worries. Maybe because he didn't buy what he was selling himself. Something was happening, something bad…

**Back** at the halfway house, which she was running, Paige felt a sudden tingle, and shivered. She glanced around the room, but all the windows were open, and there was no wind what so ever in her office. She frowned, trying to make right off her strange, sudden outburst of mixed emotions, but waved it off with a sigh. She glanced at the laptop flipped open before her and the accounting she had been slaving over for the past few hours. This was not what she imagined doing as she opened up the halfway house… she imagined helping people, giving them a second chance on a life she knew they deserved… instead, she had a staff of volunteers helping out, while she was locked up in her own office, filling in applications for funds from the government, buying in supplies and blankets and clothes, doing taxes and making sure the books were balanced… and she hated what her life had become so dearly she could taste the bitter taste on her tongue.

- Screw this.- she sighed, standing up and stretching out. Her back creaked, which was the first sign she had spent way too much time in front of her computer. She yawned, flipped her long, light red hair off her shoulders and pulled the scarf she had hanging over the back of the chair around her shoulders. She rolled her head around, listening to her neck silently creaking, then she glanced on her wrist watch. 1pm. She had completely forgotten about lunch…- I need some coffee!

She started walking towards the door when she suddenly felt a hot cup in her hand. She looked down, on the Starbucks extra foam latte she was suddenly holding onto and got so surprised, she dropped it onto the floor. The cap flew off and hot coffee spilled all over the carpet. Paige watched the brown stain and her dotted shoes, then she swallowed, withheld her breath as she extended her hand and closed her eyes.

- Cup!- she demanded. When she opened her eyes, the empty Starbucks mug was firmly placed in her hand.

Paige watched the cup for a moment, then she walked over to her desk and picked up the phone.

- Piper? It's me, Paige… you wont believe what just happened!

**Leo** was taking the lead up the stairs, with Piper running closely behind. They reached the attic door almost at the very same time. There, before the reading pulpit, before the open Book of Shadows, stood their two beautiful boys and their cousin, flipping through a book neither one of them thought would ever open again...

Piper glanced at Leo, who sighed, and pulled her to him.

- It's never going to end, is it?- Piper asked, her voice quivering. Everything she had done in her life had lead her up to this point, she knew that, but along the way, she had made sure her boys would never have to endure the life she had been meant for… until this very moment, until the attic opened up and invited them back in, until the book somehow got open once again… she had through she had succeeded.

- Don't worry, honey… we have dealt with worse… we'll deal with this too…- Leon promised, kissing her hair. His eyes shifted over his wife's head and onto the threesome by the book. He knew, whomever had opened the book, he had known all hell would break loose now… and Leo feared that was just the idea…

**- Who **opened the book?- Leo asked furiously before he slammed his open palms against the surface of the dining room table. He had seated the three kids on the same places as during lunch, but instead of an easy, comfortable conversation about their days, and catching up on Ava's whereabouts these past twelve years, he was the head of a cross examination he had wished his whole life he wouldn't have to experience.

- I did.- Ava finally replied, looking up. She looked so calm, so unaware of what she had done, Leo didn't know if he should laugh or yell at her.

- You did?- he asked, sounding like he was about to continue with "that figures". Instead, he spun around, pulling his hands through his short, dark blonde hair and exhaled, gathering his strength to keep from yelling straight out.- One day in at the manor, and you manage to cause more damage then these two had done for the past nineteen, twenty one years!

He had first pointed to Chris, who was 19 years old, and had been hell growing up. Then he had pointed to Wyatt, the 21 year old boy wonder, that had never caused any trouble at home, but had his father not included him in the situation, Chris would have been singled out.

Chris picked up on it even faster then Ava had. He had the benefit of knowing his parents, and therefor he read them quicker then anyone. He glanced over at his mother, but Piper looked away. She looked tiered, disappointed, and much older then her almost 50.

Chris swallowed and looked up at his father.

- I opened the book.- he said. Ava cut her eyes to him. He didn't even look at her as he growled her a warning.- Shut up.

Ava averted her eyes, looking out towards the closed door of the manor. Leo sighed, looking from Chris to Ava and then to Wyatt, who was looking like he was about to fall to pieces. Then he nodded.

- Fine. Take blame for one another, or whatever it is you are doing… your mother and I were afraid you wouldn't be able to relate to your cousin, but I see that when it comes to mischief, you all bond really nicely…- he pronounced slowly.- You are all too old for us to ground you, but there are other things we can do to make this few following weeks really unpleasant for you. Whenever we say jump, the three of you go "how high?". Got that?

The three of them at the table nodded slowly, all having quite different feelings flowing through their hearts and heads. Wyatt felt guilt so strong he nearly threw up. Chris felt rebellious, towards his parents, but even more so towards Ava. And Ava felt… like she was watching a really adventurous movie she loved to see the end of.

- Now go to your rooms, all of you, and don't you dare to even speak to your mother and me until we have figured how to undo what you have done!- Leo demanded, pointing towards the stairs. Ava, Wyatt and Chris slowly stood up and followed Leo's instructions without a single word, walking to to their rooms.

By her door, Chris caught up with Ava, tugging her back, stopping her from entering the room.

- Why did you come here?- he asked. She looked him into the eyes, and something in there glimmered in a familiar way. She smiled. She might not have him figured out yet, but now she know the way in.

- I suppose that's what we are about to find out…- she declared slowly, as she opened the door to her room and entered. Chris watched the closed door for a while, then slammed his fist into the door jamb. Wyatt stopped him from repeting the task and probably breaking every single bone in his hand.

- Stop it, what's wrong with you?- he asked, pulling Chris away from the door.

- She's what's wrong with me!- Chris replied, loudly, angrily.- She enters this place, like she belongs here, and… dammit!

Chris spun around and stormed into his own room, slamming the door shut behind him. Wyatt watched the two closed doors then smiled.

- Maybe she does…?- he asked himself before he turned and slowly disappeared into his own room.

**- Look** at this.- Piper encouraged, shoving the book into Paige's face. Paige backed away rapidly, rubbing her nose, looking accusingly at her older sister.

- Shove much!- she declared grumpy. Piper sighed, spinning around, facing the window in the winter garden by the side of the house. Paige sighed and looked at the front of the Book of Shadows. The triqueta on the front was entwined. Paige slowly let hr fingers trace the bumps and hollows of the mark, then she looked up at Piper.

- When did this happen?

Piper shook her shoulders, grimacing.

- Today, right after lunch… or, that is what we think, Leo and I.- she replied, sighing and facing her sister.- Ava somehow opened the attic. Chris walked in, and Wyatt closed the trinity… their hands on the book entwined the triqueta!

Paige leaned back, watching Piper.

- You weren't here, but that's exactly what happened when Phoebe moved back to the manors, while Prue was still alive… she opened the attic, she found the book… she released our powers…- Piper continued.

- Ava is carrying her legacy proudly.- Paige inflicted, opening the book and slowly letting her fingers run over the old, yellowing pages. Then she smiled.- I have to say, I've missed this…

Piper cut her eyes to her youngest sister.

- I haven't.- she shrugged.- The demons, the warlocks… do you have any idea how difficult it is to get demon blood of your shirt? Off course you don't, you didn't do the laundry once while living here…

Paige giggled, flipping further through the book.

- Maybe… but when I wished for a coffee, and the cup was just there, I realized… how much I missed having magic in my life…- she replied, frowing.- I'm trying to find the spell to strip a witch of her powers, but it seems to be missing…

Piper nodded.

- Yes, me and Leo have been trying to find the spell to bind the powers or strip them from the kids, but the spells have been magically erased…- she agreed.- If you flip through the book, you'll find a lot of the spells we used are gone… and there are new ones, things I've never seen before… things that make my skin crawl!

Paige giggled again.

- That's beacause you've always been the meek one…- she said, stopping suddenly at a page in the book. Her upper lip curled back in repulsion.- Okay, I take that back, this one makes me shiver to the bone… I'm glad we don't have to face him…

She stopped talking just as suddenly as she had started, as it dawned on them both that what they wouldn't have to face, their offspring would. Wyatt and Chris and Ava…

- Do you think that's why I never could have children? Because you had two and Phoebe had one and we couldn't break the power of three?- she suddenly asked, closing the book, looking as sad as she had felt. Before her husband died, Paige had done vigorious attempts to conceive, but never gone a full semester… she had no children, and now,she felt she was getting too old to try. Besides, being single once again, for the 9th month by now, was… taking it's tool on her.

- Don't be ridiculous, we have broken the power of three before… for once, there was four of us, Prue and me and Phoebe and you, and…- Piper tried to spin the conversation back into nicer neighborhoods, but Paige shook her head.

- Prue died… and that's when I found out I was a witch…- she said.- There can only be three, Piper. You know it, and I know it…

Piper looked up, into Paige's eyes and sighed.

- You were there, together with the three of us… we just didn't know it back then.- she reminded Paige. Paige nodded.

- But if me having a child means one of yours, of Ava, have to die…- she said slowly, hugging Piper.- We have three beautiful kids, and they have grown up real nicely… now, we have to take on the jobs as their teachers… we are too old to fight the battle for good, but apparently, the battle is yet to be won. And we need to make the best of the situation.

Piper sighed, nodding. She knew. Deep down inside, she knew what her boys and Ava had been meant for. She had just hoped… that she, somehow, could have stopped it.


End file.
